Office of Multicultural Ministry
St. Joseph Parish of Saginaw, Michigan, had Father Anthony Kote-Witah, OFM Cap., as the guest celebrant for the Diocese of Saginaw and the Parish’s annual Black History celebration on February 26 and 27, 2022. Fr. Anthony is originally from Nigeria where he endured harsh persecution in his homeland and then became a refugee fleeing from the violence at a young age. He is now a Capuchin priest serving the poor and downtrodden in Detroit, Michigan. Fr. Anthony Kote-Witah also ministers at the Solanus Casey Center, serving as a spiritual director for pilgrims, celebrating Mass, offering healing services, hearing confessions, leading substance-abuse support groups and helping at the Capuchin Soup Kitchen.
St. Joseph held its annual Black History celebrations with special mass celebrations on Saturday, February 26th and a special Black History Mass on Sunday, February 27th. In addition to Fr. Anthony, St. Joseph’s Pastor, Fr. Frank Voris, OFM Cap., invited two others, from the local Black Christian community, as special guests for the Sunday celebration. Pastor Silas Brazil, Jr., followed his father’s footsteps at New Beginnings Life Changing Ministries, Saginaw, Michigan. Elder Ralph Martin is one of the leaders of the Men’s group, Men of Bethel / Sons of Allen, at Bethel AME Church, Saginaw, Michigan.
Both guests were able to speak at the Sunday services. The Parish wanted to reach out to local area Black Christian communities to journey together despite the different faith traditions. They were able to share a message of hope and perseverance in our common faith. They were well received by all. Following the Mass on Sunday, St. Joseph Parish invited everyone to share in a community meal in the Parish’s adjoining hall.
In holding with the theme of “Black Catholics on the Road to Sainthood”, we handed out many copies of the book by the same title, edited by Michael Heinlein, Our Sunday Visitor, Huntington, Indiana. We incorporated the story of these six holy men and women into our celebration and on our flyer for this event.
Art Fulgencio, St. Joseph Parish’s Artist in Residence, designed custom artwork for the flyers and promotional messages, incorporating images of the six Black Catholics in the process of canonization and St. Joseph. He also designed a special image of St. Joseph and child that the Parish made into promotional buttons that the Parish gave out in advance of the Black History Celebration.
We submitted several pictures with this Newsflash.
[Note: The Ezekiel Project postponed its “Martin Luther King, Jr., Prayer Breakfast”, usually scheduled in March, and may instead schedule it later this year. The Ezekiel Project leadership has not decided whether to hold an in-person event, or repeat it as another virtual event.]
